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Worldwide wafer fab equipment spending is expected to decrease 47.1 percent in 2009, following a drop of nearly 33 percent in 2008. In 2009, the etch, clean and planarization segments will be the largest of the front-end equipment areas, followed by deposition and then by lithography. Lithography has been hit especially hard by the downturn as sales for the most advanced 193 nm immersion tools in memory have been lukewarm, with capital spending for memory at levels not seen since 2002.
After declining nearly 25 percent last year, the packaging and assembly equipment (PAE) market is expected to fall nearly 47 percent in 2009. A recovery for PAE is likely to be seen in the second half of this year if recent positive economic developments are sustained.
For 2009, the worldwide automated test equipment (ATE) market is forecast to decline 32 percent. While the test market has waded through a difficult period since 2007, it appears that a bottom is forming in the second quarter of 2009. The ATE market now sits at very low market levels, with some test segments very likely realizing substantial capacity reductions. As the industry moves toward a growth phase, the potential for explosive growth in the 2010 and 2011 time frame could be realized.
Mr. Rinnen said that overall, the industry has responded as it should when faced with one of the worst downturns in its history - by eliminating all unnecessary spending, cutting purchases to inventories and not doing anything dramatic. He recommended that for the next few quarters, equipment suppliers focus on quarter-to-quarter growth and let the annual numbers fall where they may.
"Over the past few years, we have seen the semiconductor and electronics industries implement impressive movements in their ability to control and manage inventories," said Mr. Rinnen. "It appears the industry has learned a painful lesson and can implement improvements on its ability to manage capital investments and capacity and thus bring a return to profitability to all segments."
Additional information is available in the Gartner report "Forecast: Semiconductor Capital Equipment, 2Q, 2009." The report is available on Gartner's Web site at http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=1012512&subref=simplesearch
